J Francho

Long, fast glass doesn't come cheap. Feel free to price out my EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS, LOL. The best value is probably in the primes. It'll cost you though. EF200 f/2.8L is around $700. The 400 f/5.6 is around $1200. I had this lens for baseball, and its awesome, though huge. There is a the vanilla 70-200 f/4L that can be found for $600 on the used market. Keep in mind, the term "fast" is relative. f/4 for a lens with a focal length > than 200mm is fast. On a wide prime, you can find reasonable priced lenses that have a max (widest) aperture setting of f/1.4. The EF50 f/1.4 USM comes to mind.

Type "stainless pad eye" into a Google search.

An oldie, but a goodie. Dad with a pre-goby era Lake O. smallie:

What reel do you use on that "putter," and have you tried braid?

They are easy to get in touch with: http://fish.shimano.com/publish/content/global_fish/en/us/index/contact_us.html

I already answered this, but after some thought.....I throw spinnerbaits on a few different rods. For the sniper style short target stuff ghoti is talking about, I agree, a short handle is a must. This is probably the bulk of my spinnerbaiting. I use an Avid AVC62MXF. For long casts on shoals and flats in clear water, I go up to a AVC68MXF. For slow rolling in deep water in rocks or coontail, I'll use my LTB70MF or LTBMHF depending on the cover.

Braid - Polamar or Uni or Double Uni (Spider Hitch to double the line) Flouro - Uni or Palomar (Flouro separates the men from the boys in knot tying) Mono - Cinch, Improved Cinch, Uni, Palomar

A turn or two electrical tape works fine, too.

Snook, you're not understanding the potential problem of the line slipping on the spool. It has nothing to do with line running off the spool to the end - the bullk of coiled line can actually intermittently spin on the spool. The problem with tying to a drilled spool, is the spool can actually cut the braid. Best to run a dozen or so turns of mono, at least. I'd say that 4 out of 5 reels that I receive for service with slipping drags are due to improper backing with braid. No rhyme or reason to spinning or casting reels, just another easy $20 for me. I even had one come back twice last year, after I respooled the reel using a few wraps of mono to fix the issue. "This reel is doing the same thing it did before." "Did you put new line on it?" "Yeah, fresh braid." "Did you use a mono backer?" "No." "There's your problem."

I guess we can do baby shots..... My youngest, at about 3 hours old, in the banshee's arms. Yes, he was a DD ;D

J - Do you do mod to these baits, where the original single hook is removed and replaced with wire and a treble ? A-Jay I messed with a stinger treble off the bottom hook loop with braid and buried in the adipose area, but it just wrecked the action and tore the bait. I fish them straight out of the package. Wayne, that bait is hot, and close enough to the stocker browns up here. You can just send that bait to me.

I want a bait that looks like this:

Get the 6" ROF 5 in Holdover. Pure demolition in clear water.

Nice! You get that with the Kicktail Minnow, right?

Very nice northern. Get a Fishgrip, immobilize the head by the boat. Do not bring a fish with hooks into the boat, you're asking for trouble. You can use a large landing net, but you'll still want to use the grip and remove the hooks in the water. A partner is helpful here. Here is the Fishgrip in action, on a kayak: A couple of "no-no's" Some of that is my blood, sliced my knuckles on the gill rakers.

Coffee with a double redeye. And water.

You already have that pic ion your avatar! ;D

I've been running with a St Croix Avid AVC68MXF, and its just about perfect for spinnerbaits.

All you need is a white ceiling. Bounce the main light off the ceiling. Block the front of the light to reduce any specular highlights. Use white and black cardboard "gobos" to "paint" reflections on shiny items. This type of arrangement gets you:

Light tents are for sissies. I'll PM you some pics of an easier setup.

SJ, your pics are without question. Guys, if you are really interested in off camera lighting, checkout the Strobist. Sunday.....

Many of my shots are straight out of the camera. These days, if I can't get it done in DPP or Adobe Camera Raw, then its not a good shot. And that's why your a photographer and I'm a photoshop-rapher I'm selling on that. Your comps are tight, have good basics down, now just learn how to do things in camera. You'd be a monster with off camera lighting.

The hard gill floater has been a numbers fish on "noontime" pond this week. Two days ago, 14 fish in about an hour. two were 3+, the rest were dinks. Its pretty obvious what the prevalent food source is in this pond, LOL.

75 yards is all takes. Get four reel fills per 300 yd. spool.